News has reached us of the sudden death of Dublin Piper Darach De Brun on 24th of June 2012.

One time member of the band Oisin, which also featured Geraldine McGowan and Brian McDonagh (who would later join Dervish). De Brun will be best known for two fine compositions that have entered into the general session repertoire. Both  of these were composed for weddings. The first the Man of Arán was written for Tommy Walsh, a Dublin box player who composed the tune Inis Thoir (Inisheer).

Darach told the tale of writing the Maple Leaf on the internet discussion board session.org he wrote ‘The Maple Leaf was composed in 1976 for my own wedding. I had my reception in the Maples Hotel, Dublin, hence the name’.

See Donncha Ó ’Briain - Irish Traditional Music on Tin Whistle (Original 1979, re-released 2011) Gael Linn www.gael-linn.ie to see how quickly these tunes became session favourites.

In later years Darach was a regular player in sessions around Dublin and was a noted piper for almost thirty years in the Capitol. It appears had a massive heart attack, whilst at a session on Sunday, was rushed to hospital but sadly he passed away the same evening.

Our condolences to all his family and friends.